Kobe Bryant Nicknames Metta World Peace ‘Wolverine’ for Early Return

Remarkably, Metta World Peace is expected to play tonight against the New Orleans Hornets just 12 days after undergoing left knee surgery. Kobe Bryant is amazed, of course, and says his teammate is similar to a superhero. Per the LA Times: “The maligned present-day Lakers (40-37) play host to New Orleans on Tuesday and then are at Portland, their personal haunted mansion, on Wednesday. In the mess that this season has become, a surprising bit of positive injury news trickled out of the Lakers’ medical flies Monday. Metta World Peace played three-on-three at the team’s practice facility and planned to return to the lineup Tuesday if he didn’t feel any pain in his left knee. He underwent surgery to repair torn cartilage March 28, at which time the team said he would be back in at least six weeks. Tuesday would be 12 days. ‘I call him ‘Logan’ now,’ Bryant said, referring to a comic book superhero. ‘He’s Wolverine, man, that’s who he is.’ World Peace will try to restore some bite to the oft-soft Lakers’ defense. It won’t be easy.”